This research explores the extent to which humans behave realistically during conflict with a virtual human occupying a position of authority. To this end, we created a virtual team to train nurses how to manage conflict in the operating room; the team’s virtual surgeon engages in reckless behavior that could endanger the safety of the team’s patient, requiring nurses to intervene and correct the virtual surgeon’s behavior. Results from post-hoc behavioral analysis and semi-structured interviews indicate that participants behaved realistically during conflict, as compared against existing behavioral frameworks. However, some participants reported perceiving their virtual teammates as strangers, which they felt may have caused them to behave differently than they would with their normal teammates.